Platts

Washington (Platts)--12Jun2009

US independent gas producer Chesapeake Energy is entering into a joint
venture with Norway's StatoilHydro to look for shale natural gas plays outside
the US, Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon revealed Friday.

McClendon said his Oklahoma City-based company, the second largest gas
producer in the US, will contribute technology and expertise to complement
StatoilHydro's international breadth in a 50/50 joint venture to exploit gas
shales worldwide.

"I see this news as most encouraging," McClendon said, predicting the
world will start to transaction away from crude oil to natural gas for fuel.

Chesapeake is already the top lease holder in two US shale
plays -- Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale and Louisiana's Haynesville Shale --
and the number two operator in the US' two other big shale finds, Texas'
Barnett Shale and Arkansas' Fayetteville Shale.

Beyond his two sentence disclosure during a presentation at Chesapeake's
annual shareholder meeting at a downtown Oklahoma City hotel, McClendon
provided no other details of the StatoilHydro deal.

StatoilHydro is already involved in a Marcellus Shale joint venture with
Chesapeake. In November, the Norwegian company paid $1.25 billion up front and
agreed to pay $2.13 billion worth of Chesapeake's costs in return for a 33%
stake in Chesapeake's Marcellus returns.

--Bill Holland, bill_holland@platts.com